Literature by Place

It's kind of crazy to what extent geography can inform an author's work. Jack London spent most of his life at sea, dog-sledding across Alaska, boxing and generally being an adventurous guy who would put today's REI crowd to shame. Would he have penned some of the greatest American novels otherwise? especially ones concerned primarily with man battling the elements for survival in both a mental and physical sense? Very probably not, which explains why Oscar Wilde didn't write about wolves and crazy ship captains.

No, Oscar Wilde wrote primarily about fops and society people parrying witticisms incessantly. That's not to say his work has no place in a serious consideration of literature—au contraire, The Picture of Dorian Grey is one of the finest novels written in English. It's just more evidence that if you're an author who lives in the Canadian mountains or the clubs of London, your writing will reflect that.

Physical terrain isn't the only consideration. Sartre wrote about people lolling about with no real sense of purpose except to drink wine and smoke cigarettes and look languorous because he lived in France in the 1940s. Friedrich Nietzsche had immense mustaches and espoused a form of nihilism because he was German. The Russians wrote impossibly long novels because they lived in Russia. And Chinua Achebe was almost entirely influenced by his African upbringing.

That's not to say no one can write well about a context they haven't experienced firsthand. I'm pretty sure Robert Heinlein never visited Mars, and even if he did it wasn't as his books describe; the same goes for Bradbury. And no, Roald Dahl was never lost in a delightfully (though at times, terrifyingly) absurd chocolate factory. Yet even with these examples, the authors conveyed essentially the attitudes of the countries they came from—Heinlein and Bradbury from the U.S., Dahl from the U.K.

Our Literature by Place subcategories are admittedly Anglo-centric. North American literature features, well, American literature, and you can be pretty sure British literature reflects the same system; everything else goes in world literature. We have plenty of non-American or -British literature, we just don't have much from any one place besides those two. At any rate, we hope these categories are helpful, and if they guide you toward one book you're looking for (or maybe one you didn't even know existed), they've done their job.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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90 Items found Print
Active Filters: 20th & 21st Century Literature, Christian Literature, 9th grade (Ages 14-15)
Ball and the Cross
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.96
Book of the Dun Cow
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from HarperCollins
for 8th grade-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Book of the Dun Cow
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from HarperCollins
for 8th grade-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Busman's Honeymoon (11)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 11
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Clouds of Witness
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 2
by Dorothy Sayers
from ImPress Mystery
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Clouds of Witness (2)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 2
by Dorothy Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Complete Father Brown Stories
by G. K. Chesterton
from Wordsworth Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.39
Dear and Glorious Pysician
by Taylor Caldwell
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Endless Knot
Song of Albion #3
by Stephen R. Lawhead
2nd edition from Thomas Nelson Publishers
Celtic Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Endless Knot
Song of Albion #3
by Stephen R. Lawhead
Reprint from Thomas Nelson Publishers
Celtic Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Endless Knot
by Stephen Lawhead
1st edition from Chariot Victor Publishing
for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Experiment in Criticism
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from Cambridge University
Literature Guide/Resource for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Father Brown Stories Part II
by G. K. Chesterton
from Ignatius Press
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$23.50
Favorite Father Brown Stories
Dover Thrift Editions
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.40
Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #1
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Ballantine Books
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings #1: Deluxe Hardcover
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #1
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Flying Inn
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Satirical Fiction/Social Commentary for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Four Adventures of Richard Hannay
by John Buchan
from David R. Godine
Action Adventure for 8th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Four Loves
by C. S. Lewis
from Harcourt
Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Four Loves
Reissue from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Gaudy Night (10)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 10
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
God in the Dock
by C. S. Lewis
from Eerdmans
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Great Divorce
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Have His Carcase
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 7
by Dorothy L. Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Have His Carcase (7) TOS
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 7
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
2nd edition from Ballantine Books
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$35.00
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$13.99
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Hobbit & Lord of the Rings - Mass-Market Boxed Set
by J. R. R. Tolkien
Mti from Ballantine Books
Fantasy for 4th-12th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$35.96
Hobbit & Lord of the Rings - Softbound Boxed Set
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 4th-12th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$72.00
Journals of Jim Elliot
by Jim Elliot
from Fleming H Revell Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Lord of the Rings - Hardbound Boxed Set
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$67.20
Lord Peter
by Dorothy Sayers
Reprint from Harper & Row
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Man Who Knew Too Much
by G. K. Chesterton
from Dover Publications
Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.16
Man Who Knew Too Much
by G. K. Chesterton
from Waking Lion Press
Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Mere Christianity
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Million Miles in a Thousand Years
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Miracles
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Murder Must Advertise
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 8
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Murder Must Advertise (8)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 8
by Dorothy Sayers
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Narrative Poems
by C. S. Lewis
Reprint from HarperOne
Narrative Poetry for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Nine Tailors (9)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 9
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harcourt
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Out of the Silent Planet
Space Trilogy Book 1
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Out of the Silent Planet
Space Trilogy Book 1
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$24.00
Out of the Silent Planet
Space Trilogy Book 1
by C. S. Lewis
46th Printing from Collier Books
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Paradise War
by Stephen Lawhead
1st edition from Chariot Victor Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Perelandra
Space Trilogy Book 2
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Perelandra
Space Trilogy Book 2
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.00
Pilgrim's Regress
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from Eerdmans
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Problem of Pain
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Reflections on the Psalms
by C. S. Lewis
Reprint from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Return of the King
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #3
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Ballantine Books
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Return of the King
Lord of the Rings #3: Deluxe Hardcover
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Return of the King
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #3
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Return of the King
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #3
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Screwtape Letters
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegory/Religion for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Second Book of the Dun Cow: Lamentations
by Walter Wangerin
from Diversion Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Silmarillion
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Silmarillion
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Silmarillion
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
Fantasy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$75.00
Silver Hand
Song of Albion #2
by Stephen R. Lawhead
1st edition from Lion Publishing
Celtic Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Singer
by Calvin Miller
from InterVarsity Press
Allegorical Fantasy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Song
by Calvin Miller
from InterVarsity Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Sophie's World
by Jostein Gaarder
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fantasy/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00
Stonewall
by John J. Dwyer
from Broadman & Holman
Biography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Strong Poison
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 5
by Dorothy L. Sayers
1993 Reissue from Harper Perennial
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Strong Poison (5)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 5
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
That Hideous Strength
Space Trilogy Book 3
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
That Hideous Strength
Space Trilogy Book 3
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$30.00
The Robe
by Lloyd Douglas
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Thirty-Nine Steps
Dover Thrift Editions
by John Buchan
from Dover Publications
Action Adventure for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00
Thirty-Nine Steps
by John Buchan
from Penguin Classics
Action Adventure for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.00
Thirty-Nine Steps
by John Buchan
from Houghton Mifflin
Action Adventure for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
To Own a Dragon
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Two Towers
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #2
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Ballantine Books
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Two Towers
Lord of the Rings #2: Deluxe Hardcover
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Two Towers
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #2
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Unnatural Death
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 3
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Unnatural Death (3)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 3
by Dorothy Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 4
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (4)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 4
by Dorothy Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Up From Slavery
Copper Lodge Library
by Booker T. Washington, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.95
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Animal Fiction for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
Reissue from Atheneum
for 10th-Adult
1972 Carnegie Medal
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$29.99
Welcome Shore
by Suzanne Underwood Rhodes
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.50
Whose Body?
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 1
by Dorothy Sayers
1st edition from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Whose Body? (1)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 1
by Dorothy Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99